Sobriety checkpoints are a
powerful deterrent to drinking and driving, especially when well
publicized.7

More than 75% of the public
supports sobriety checkpoints to help combat drunk driving.
Also, 62% of Americans want sobriety checkpoints to be used more often.

39 states and Washington,
D.C., allow sobriety checkpoints. All other states allow
saturation
patrols.

Definitions:

Sobriety checkpoint:
law enforcement evaluates drivers for signs of alcohol or drug impairment
at certain points on the roadway. Vehicles are stopped in a specific
sequence, such as every other vehicle or every fourth, fifth or sixth
vehicle. Sobriety checkpoints must display warning signs to motorists.
Police must have a reason to believe the driver stopped at a checkpoint
has been drinking before a breath test can be conducted.

Saturation patrol:
concentrated enforcement effort that target impaired drivers by
observing
moving violations such as reckless driving, speeding, aggressive driving,
and
others. A saturation patrol is generally spread over a larger
geographic area than a
sobriety checkpoint.

Seat Belt
Use/Mobilizations

76% of people who are fatally
injured in impaired driving crashes are not wearing seat belts.

Seat belt use of 90% is found
and exceeded in Canada, Australia and many Northern
Europe countries.

25% of drivers who do not use
seat belts also engage in high-risk behaviors, such as
drinking and
driving. Primary seat belt laws increase usage rates for higher-risk
drivers to a greater extent than the average driver.

Wearing seat belts reduces
the risk of fatal injury by 45% and the risk of serious injury by
50%.

Approximately 75% of
Americans use seat belts. For every one percentage point rise in
seat belt
use, an additional 280 lives can be saved.

18 states and Washington,
D.C. have a primary enforcement seat belt law.

The only proven way to
significantly increase belt use is through strong and well-enforced
laws.

Passage of a primary
enforcement seat belt law raises seat belt use by 9 to 14 percentage
points.

The national "Click It or
Ticket"mobilization campaign (May 2002) yielded an average
increase in
seat belt use of nearly 9 percentage points in states using the full
implementation model.

According to the Air Bag and
Seat Belt Safety Campaign, seat belt use increased 14 percentage points
(from 61% to 75%), 39 million more Americans buckle up and 3,780
lives
have been saved each year since the campaign started in 1997.